Reflections From a Refugee Camp About Skittles and Your Tax Dollars.
It’s kind of hard to miss news about refugees over
the last few years. The U.S. President compared refugees to Skittles. Frankly,
it was well, bizarre. Many countries have received thousands of refugees this year, and many
more in the past. Congratulations to those who have helped to make this happen.
I have been to all six of the top refugee
host countries in my career: Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, Ethiopia and
Jordan. Interestingly, none is located in the “west.” I watched as the lost
boys of Sudan walked into Kenya fleeing war. Years later I was moved to tears
when I saw the boys depart on a plane.
Whether in Africa or Europe, I’ve often sat myself
down beside refugees in their igloo-like structures made from twigs, mud, and
cardboard or their steamy tents. For many, they have no hope for the future and
they dream of a home they have never seen. I’ve been surprised by the significant
number who had to take medicine for tension or high blood pressure. Some of us
take pills because we worry too much at home, others take pills because they
worry about having no home at all.
Life as a displaced person is a monotonous ritual of waiting
for documents, waiting for water, waiting for food or firewood. Waiting is a
full-time job. It’s life support, but it’s not living. Not really. Some told me
that being invisible is worse than waiting, stateless, with nobody knowing that
you exist. According to the UN, there are some 21 million official refugees. Millions
more are displaced and not included in that number.
Most of us realize that the displaced arriving on our
borders is not really the problem. Their arrival is a symptom. The real problem
is a lack of peace and stability in regions where people have no future. I will
never forget one young refugee, sitting beside her family tent on a humid
afternoon in Europe detailing her long flight from war. Finally, she ended our
conversation with, “Mr. Philip, I stopped
crying at the end of my journey. I had no more tears to give.” Statements
like that stay with you forever.
The Canadian government and others are to be
applauded for increasing assistance to refugees through the UN or
non-governmental organizations on the ground. Over the years, many governments
have cut back on international development. But we need to invest even more in
helping back in their home country.
Some estimate that $13 trillion was spent globally on
war last year. I don’t hear a lot of complaining about that. Much less was
spent on humanitarian assistance, democratization, and related peace ventures.
Some decry our foreign aid budget and the charities that
receive funding to do the work on the ground. But investment in these programs actually
work. As a result of the Millennium Development Goals, the number of people
living on less than $1.25 a day has been reduced from 1.9 billion in 1990 to
836 million today. That’s a success story you don’t hear very often. We need to
apply the same laser focus to the refugee crisis.
There are
those who would have us reduce or stop foreign aid. They say the system is
broken. The way we help overseas is far from perfect. But democracy is not
perfect either, yet we remain faithful to the concept and the benefits it
brings, even with its associated headaches.
So, the next time you hear people complaining about
their tax dollars being spent on foreign aid, remind them that dismantling the conveyor belt of misery flowing from poverty is the right moral choice. It is
also much more effective and cheaper than having to deal with millions of
families who are forced to seek assistance at our door.
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